Pushing the Dynamic Range: Simulating the Co-Evolution of Galaxies and Black Holes

We will perform high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamic simulations following the formation and evolution of massive galaxies from the Big Bang to the present time. We will focus on galaxies more massive than the Milky Way—up to the mass scale of galaxy groups—while at the same time including enough resolution to explicitly model the interstellar medium of galaxies and the effects of feedback from stars. We will use the simulations to study the co-evolution of galaxies and their supermassive black holes. By pushing the dynamic range of cosmological zoom-in simulations by about an order of magnitude relative to the current state of the art, these new simulations will enable a wide range of other scientific investigations, such as studies of the gaseous halos of massive galaxies, and will thus have legacy value.